Buried Days
by Laylora
Summary: Zoe Heriot, with all memories of her life before and during her adventures with the Doctor are gone! Zoe goes through an experimental procedure to try to get her memories back. As she stumbles cross her terrifying past, she slowly begins to doubt everything she's known. But what happens when allies turn to enemies?
1. Chapter 1

_She came to this mysterious place with nothing but the clothes on her back. For the first few minutes, she screamed as she took in the air around her. Then, after five minutes, she learned all the lessons of her past. How to talk, how to walk, how to do complex algebra problems, even advanced quantum physics. Once she had recovered those memories, she had learned she was quite the genius. But somehow, she could not salvage any memories of her entire life. From birth to death, she couldn't remember anything about who she was. Heck, she couldn't remember her name if her life depended on it._

 _She knew this place. She recognized everything about it. She lived and worked here. What she didn't recognize were the people following her._

 _A guy in a black suit grabbed her shoulder. "Let me go!" Suddenly, her fighting skills came back to her, but before she could use them, a syringe was inserted into her neck, and soon she was sound asleep._

 _When she woke up, she was in a hospital bed. This wasn't that familiar place she was before. This was definitely different. But was that place nearby? Who had attacked her? And why?_

 _"Where am I?"_

 _"Well well well. Look who woke up." a towering man in a teal jumpsuit with ink black hair and gamma-ray protection sunglasses appeared by her side._

 _"What have you done to me!?" she asked._

 _"I haven't done anything to you. I'm actually trying to help you."_

 _"How could you possibly help me?"_

 _"You don't have any memories except for your skillset, which is impressive. We checked your subconscious and ran a bunch of scans on you to figure out why. And what we've found is amazing." He handed her a picture._

 _"Background radiation! This can't be!" Background radiation was a harmless material you acquired through time travel... someone had told her that... but what did it mean? Had she traveled in time?_

 _"There's only one explanation... you traveled in time. Some point after your travels, your entire memory was wiped. We want to know how to travel in time, and-."_

 _"The easiest possible way to do that is to restore my memories." she responded._

 _"Exactly."_

 _"So, when do we start?" she asked._

 _"Immediately! One last thing... what should we call you?"_

 _She thought about that for a while. She looked through all her knowledge, but could not, would not remember her name. No, something else would have to do. She reviewed all her physics knowledge. The smallest particle that still held properties was the atom. The atom has protons and neutrons. Protons..._

 _"Call me Protolye." she responded._

 _"I'm Copernicus, head of this program."_

 _"Wait. Once my memories are restored, what will happen to me?"_

 _"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now you need to rest."_

 _Protolye saw that she was hooked up to a tube with purple liquid pouring out of it. "It... helps you sleep." responded Copernicus._

 _Protolye was very suspicious about it. But what could she do?_

 _She fell asleep. Into a very interesting dream._

 _The room in the dream was a snow white room with a dark wood desk with tiny but interesting little knick-knacks all over it. Three feet away from the desk was a chair. In it was a woman with black ink skin and little tubes with tentacles sticking out of her head. She was fascinating._

 _"Sit down, Protolye. The treatment is about to begin."_

 _"Where am I now?" Protolye responded._

 _"Oh my dear. You are in the dreamatorium. All of this is nothing but a dream. You may call me Hypatia."_

 _"Why does everything feel-"_

 _Hypatia interrupted her. "Solid? This is a lucid dream. Your subconscious is still active, so you have some control."_

 _Protolye saw earthy green curtains covering a window. She opened the curtains. Surprisingly, instead of the blue sky of earth or the ink backdrop of white shining points, out the window was a blinding light that hurt Protolye's eyes._

 _"There's nothing out there!" shouted Protolye._

 _"Your subconscious is still active and retaining your memories. If there was something out there to help you get your memories back, there'd be something to see."_

 _Protolye refused to believe any of it. This was far to ridiculous for her mind._

 _"How do I tell what's real?" Protolye asked Hypatia._

 _"Like this." She held up a tennis ball in her hand. She threw it up in the air. Strangely and surprisingly, the tennis ball floated mid-air._

 _"Is that filled with helium?" Asked Protolye. She couldn't take this insane, illogical answer presented._

 _Hypatia chuckled. "My dear, why can't you accept the fact that that all of this-" Hypatia held up her hand and waved it to present the room. "Is just a dream? Or do you need a stronger demonstration than a mere tennis ball?"_

 _"Yes, show me this demonstratation."_

 _"The sight of such changes makes some go insane."_

 _"I promise not to go insane. Will you show me?"_

 _Hypatia chuckled again. She grabbed the tennis ball and threw it into the air again. Then Hypatia clapped her hands. The ball exploded mid air, causing the room around to change from a small room to a cosmic disk of stars and debree in space. Protolye had seen this sight before. She loved the stars and the universe, and seeing it again, even in whatever this place was overjoyed her. It dazzled her, this strange world. And she knew she had a place in it somewhere. She just needed Hypatia & Copernicus to help her find out where._

 _"I understand. You need to get used to this dream state." Hypatia paused. "I'll leave you here. But just take this." Hypatia handed her a pill with green liquid. "When you want to leave the Dreamatorium, just take this. You'll be back in an instant." Hypatia walked out the door, then dissolved into particles in the air._

 _Protolye didn't care about any of that. All that mattered was that dazzling ring of stardust and rocks. She gazed upon the ring for what felt like ages. Then, Protolye said one last thing. "I solemnly swear once I figure out who I am, I will devote my life to the universe and it's endless wonders." Protolye then swallowed the green pill. Then everything went black._

 _The next day, Protolye woke up in the hospital bed. She knew exactly where she had to go._


	2. Chapter 2

_She looked at the hallway walls, for any sort of map to take her where she needed to go. There had to be a library of computer lab somewhere... but where?_

 _Unknown to her, she would quickly find her answer._

 _In the hallway, a young boy, just a couple years older than her, with short blonde hair appeared._

 _"Hello!" he said._

 _"Um... hi? Maybe you can help me! I'm looking for some sort of local information archive?"_

 _"It's in Corridor 2. Why do you ask, just out of curiosity?"_

 _Protolye told him. "I'm looking for information about the stars and universe."_

 _"Oh. Well, if that's the case, boy have I had something to show you." the boy responded._

 _"What's your name?" She asked._

 _"Kepler. Follow me."_

 _She followed him into a maze of metallic hallways until Kepler walked into a circular room. When she walked in, she was amazed._

 _One half of the room was a half-circle of computers and downloadable books. But on the other side of the room was a diamondillum window. Outside, Protolye could see the stars and the outer cosmos. A diamondillum dome made of tiny but sturdy diamondillum hexagons served as a roof the room._

 _"Wow! This place is amazing!" Protolye exclaimed._

 _"Oh, that's just the beginning." Kepler told her. He placed his fingers on the diamondillum window, then moved his fingers away from each other. When he did this, the window zoomed in on a particular star._

 _"This place is some sort of library-observatory that was abandoned. But I come here to relax after a difficult day, or even just to read in peace and quiet." Kepler explained._

 _"Seriously? There this amazing little room like this and people just abandon it? Why?"_

 _"I know, right?" Kelper responded. "It's insane!"_

 _"So, how did you get here?" Protolye asked._

 _"Oh, I'm just another geeky science kid." He responded. "You?"_

 _"I don't know. Heck, I don't know anything about myself." Protolye said._

 _"So, you're just trying to start over from scratch?"_

 _"I guess so. I guess so, Kepler."_

 _"What's your name? Where can I find you again?" He asked her._

 _"Well, I'm Protolye. And I guess I'll find you again in here."_

 _"Great!" Protolye turned to leave, but then found she couldn't. She had hours of daylight to kill. Why not spend it here, in the observatory?_

 _Protolye came back, and sat down on the floor._

 _"So where did you start your love of knowledge?" Asked Kelper._

 _"I lost everything. All my memories. I have nothing but my knowledge."_

 _"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"_

 _"I did. When I said I didn't know anything about myself."_

 _"Sorry, I thought when you said that earlier you were being figurative. You seriously have biographical amnesia?"_

 _"Yes. Protolye is just a name I picked for myself based on protons in an atom."_

 _"Well, better get researching. If you have biographical amnesia, then reading might help you remember. Where should we start?"_

 _"A book about stars." She responded._

 _She spent the next few hours research ping & observing. They had so much in common, the love of knowledge, the will to observe... everything. After hours with Kepler, Protolye finally left the room, having made a new friend._

 _And then Protolye fell asleep into another odd dream._

 _It started in the hospital bed this time. Protolye got up and wandered around... into the same white room they had been in last time. And there was Hypatia, tennis ball in hand._

 _"Now, let's begin, shall we?" She asked as she threw up the tennis ball & clapped. Again the room exploded, to reveal a terrestrial city. At first nothing came to her._

 _Hypatia then turned to her. "I think the first thing we should do is give the city a name, don't you think? Remember, Protolye. Think." Hypatia vanished._

 _She tried as hard as she could to come up with a name. She thought of all the letters and cities that started with them. She reached up to I with no results. Then she recalled it. Imi. The place she had grown up. Once that was uncovered, a flood of memories came back._

 ** _Protolye was born in the city of Imi. Imi was once a glorious metropolis. Now, most of it's buildings as well as the ground itself were red with rust, and some had become victim to the Ashfall effect and collapsed. The population of the city had fallen from 430,000 in 2015 to less than 1/8th of that number in 2055. Crime & famine soared. It was a city in economic meltdown. With such a chaotic setting, it's easy to forget the little details. Like the Vanishers._**

 ** _The Vanishers, that's what they called them. Two shadowy figures who would snatch children at random, so it seemed. Some came back with horror stories of what happened to them. Some came back with a significant increase of temper tantrums. Three were even seen floating in the ocean, dead as a doornail. Nobody had ever caught who was taking these children, or even knew the pattern between the kidnappings._**

 ** _Protolye had a conflicted relationship with her father. Her mother was killed by disease when she was no older than four, and he had never really recovered from the loss. How he reacted to this loss differed from day to day. Sometimes he would be over protective and wouldn't let her out of a six inch radius away from him. Other days he would sit down, stopped looking out for his daughter and entangle himself in his own thoughts._**

 ** _She saw flashes of her early life go by. She saw one memory of herself, of a toddler, building a sandcastle with another girl and swimming in the shallow edges of the water. But the memories of Imi burned in her mind. Protolye struggled to remember more. But her head just got hotter and hotter. It was burning up like a star. She barely struggled to say the name of the city "Imi" before falling on to the floor, the world having turned inky black._**


	3. Chapter 3

_"Protolye? Are you alright?" someone asked. The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't tell whose it was._

 _"I think she's conscious. Give it time."_

 _Protolye woke up to see herself again hooked up to a bunch of tubes. In front of her was Kepler and Copernicus._

 _"What happened?"_

 _"We don't exactly know... short version or long version?" Asked Copernicus._

 _"Short version, please." Protolye responded._

 _"You had a severe fever, started screaming, and we almost thought you were dead."_

 _"Oh my gosh!" Protolye exclaimed. "Do you know what caused it?"_

 _"No. What happened?"_

 _Protolye didn't know what to say. She didn't trust Copernicus enough to tell him about Hypatia and the lucid dreams, or about the flood of memories and the burning fever that accompanied it._

 _"I... was asleep!" It was partially true. "I don't know!"_

 _"Tell us if you have more information." Copernicus then left._

 _Kepler, however stayed. "Are you OK? I mean, people thought you were going to die. Do you feel any pain at all?"_

 _"I'm fine, really!" responded Protolye._

 _"Ok. Just making sure." He had a piece of paper in his hand, as well as one of those cool new erasable laser pens. "Sign on the line."_

 _Before she thought about it, she picked up the laser pen and signed her name. Then she dropped the pen in shock. "How did I sign? What did I sign? I don't know what my name is! What is going on?"_

 _Kepler explained. "There are three types of memory. Specifically, your skill set, muscle memories, or everyday actions your hands perform, and the last memory, every experience you ever had. You lost the last ones, but the other memory types are still intact, evidenced by your advanced astronomy."_

 _"This is realevant because..." Protolye asked._

 _"Don't you see! You still have the other memory types, so even though you didn't know your name, you had signed your name so many times before that you didn't even think before signing the paper I gave you-"_

 _"Which could lead to me recovering memories! I see it now! Let's hope I can read my own signature." Protolye squinted at the laser pen signature._

 _She pointed at the first letter "That looks like an S.. no, it's a Z. That looks like an O, than an E, so... my real name is Zoe?"_

 _Kepler looked at the last name. "All I can read off this last name is an H."_

 _Protolye sighed. "Well, I guess Zoe H is as good as any name. Thanks for trying to help. I just wish I knew what happened to me. Why don't I remember?"_

 _"Hey, you'll figure out why eventually." Kepler tried to comfort her._

 _"And the fevers... just as I was trying to remember..."_

 _"Wait. You remember something?"_

 _She told Kepler about the lucid dreams and Hypatia. About the flashback and Imi and how the memory burned._

 _"So... you've been having these memory sessions with the octopus woman and you just started to remember this?"_

 _She nodded. "I wonder what happened."_

 _"Well, maybe you'll uncover more when you have the next session."_

 _"Oh, I dread it with all my heart. I'll never forget that burning sensation... my head just became so hot... I just wanted to scream." Zoe responded._

 _"Well, as of now, it's the only way you seem to be getting any decent information. I think you should keep trying to uncover more."_

 _A couple hours later, she did. In yet another dream with Hypatia._

 _"Let us begin, shall we?" Asked Hypatia. "Zoe H?"_

 _"How do you know what I figured out this morning?"_

 _"If you think it, I know about it."_

 _"Ok... that's creepy. How can you do that?"_

 _"This is about you, not me, Zoe. Focus."_

 _"On what? I don't see anything showing on the Dreamatorium."_

 _"Well then." said Hypatia. "It looks like we'll have to take the long way around."_

 _"Long way around what?"_

 _Hypatia did not answer this question. Instead, she asked a totally unrelated question. "Your father. Do you miss him?"_

 _"Yes." she responded._

 _"Why is that, exactly? Based on the previously uncovered memories, he was... a little unpredictable and was too busy mourning your mother to care about you? So why do you miss him? Or..." she paused before saying "did something happen? Something bad, that your father wasn't involved in?"_

 _"Well, I don't know."_

 _"The Vanishers, Zoe. What ever happened to them? What happened in Imi with the Vanishers?"_

 _She tried to think about the Vanishers, Imi, and her father. Nothing came up. "Nothing's coming back to me. I need something fresh. Something I haven't looked at before. Preferably on the Dreamatorium, accompanied by exploding tennis balls?"_

 _"A quaint request, but I will grant it." said Hypatia. As usual, she threw up the tennis ball, and as it peacefully levitated in the air, she clapped her hands, and the explosion was triggered. This time, instead of an image of Imi or a cosmic image of the universe and outer space, there was an image of a young girl, nine or ten as far as Zoe could tell. It was herself, of course, playing on one of Imi's white sanded beaches. Two shadowy figures were behind her. And then another flood of memories came. And yet again they burned in her mind._

 ** _Zoe was ten years old when it happened. She was playing on the white sand beaches of the crumbling city of Imi. Her father hadn't paid any attention, instead looking up at the sky and popcorn shaped clouds with a sad, bewildered look on his face._**

 ** _That's when they came for her. Two shadowy, humanoid creatures stealthily snached her off the beach. She tried to call out attention to her father. It didn't work. They had taken her. The Vanishers had finally taken her._**

 ** _In the first minutes of her kidnapping, she tried to think of all the possible things that would happen to her. Would she be mentally traumatized by the terrors she would see in the next few minutes? Would she revert to a toddler like stage? Or, would she be one of the rare ones that ended up as a lifeless carcass on the ocean? All of them sounded equally horrifying to her._**

 ** _The Vanishers revealed themselves to Zoe. One of them was a woman, no older than 35, with red hair in a ponytail held together in a bubblegum pink band and a small hazel eyes. The other was a man, a little younger, with brunette hair, squarish glasses, and a frosty white coat._**

 ** _The man tried to comfort her in a gentle tone of voice. "Please, don't cry! We're not bad people, were really not! We had to take you! You'll understand why soon. You've got to help us."_**

 ** _Zoe at first wouldn't believe him. "You're the Vanishers! You kidnapped me, and the other kids, too! Bad things happen to them! What's going to happen to me?"_**

 ** _"We never wanted those things to happen to them... we never wanted any of that." The woman said to her._**

 ** _"We'll explain it all when we get there, I promise you." said the man. "What's your name, child?"_**

 ** _"Zoe. Zoe Avnath."_**

 ** _The woman introduced herself first. "I'm Xalyssa, and this is Dariux." Dariux waved._**

 ** _"Where are you taking me?" asked Zoe._**

 ** _"To a... sort of clinic." Xalyssa responded._**

 ** _It wasn't really a clinic. It was more of a laboratory. At first it scared her. After all, a laboratory is where they run experiments. What experiments were they going to run on her? But time and time again, she turned and saw Dariux and Xalyssa. How bad could they be?_**

 ** _She was lead through a large hallway into a room, the heart of the laboratory. There were all sorts of interesting objects here, including small machines, beakers and chemicals, and squiggly things in jars. But there was also a prominent scientist in the room._**

 ** _Dariux introduced Zoe to her. "Zoe, I'd like you to meet Viola Simmons."_**

 ** _Viola Simmons was an astrophysicist. And a prominent one at that. She had inherited a small fortune from some distant relatives and used it to pursue her dreams of a higher education. From there, she had developed the Simmonwave, the most efficient way of intergalactic communication, and figured out how the mysterious floating cylinders were supposed to work. But even she couldn't avoid old age._**

 ** _They had a long chat, and the two had more similarities than Zoe had realised at first. They both really enjoyed math, and both believed the key to everything was in astronomy. To Zoe, it was like talking to a reflection of herself._**

 ** _Eventually, Viola Simmons left Zoe to think about their conversation. But she heard a small fragment of dialogue between Xalyssa and Viola._**

 ** _"I'm surprised that you want us to go through with the operation. From what it sounded like, you really liked the girl."_**

 ** _"I do really like her." Viola explained. "And I think that may be the missing link."_**

 ** _Her mind an inferno, Zoe H, with more revalation as to her life, passed out again. Why?_**


	4. Chapter 4

_The next day started out the same: People though she was dying, she had to be placed into medical care, and eventually they would leave her except for Kepler._

 _She talked to Kepler of any regained memories during the process. The day went by like a breeze. Except for one event. Zoe wasn't quite sure what to make of it._

 _When walking in the hallways of the space station, she thought she had seen, unlikely as it was, her father. He hadn't aged a day since she saw him last in Imi. Was she seeing things?_

 _Zoe blinked and squinted to see if he was really there. Sure enough, he was gone. She probably mistook him for someone else, and didn't think much of the incident. Something weird was going on, and Zoe knew it. But exactly what was something that she couldn't figure out. Yet._

 _Then she went to her sessions with Hypatia._

 _"Hello, Zoe."_

 _"Hello, Hypatia."_

 _"Time to recover your memories."_

 _"What do you have for me this time?"_

 _As usual, Hypatia threw the tennis ball in the air, clapped. As expected, the ball exploded. It showed an unusual image. It appeared to be someone going through an operation. Specifically, some sort of transplant._

 _Suddenly, she remembered. She was brought back to the little lab where the Vanishers had kept her._

 ** _Nothing else important happened on the day she talked with Viola Simmons. But the conversation between Xalyssa and Viola Simmons nagged at her. What operation? What missing link? Could she trust these people? Could she trust anyone? What had happened to the other children? What were the Vanishers going to do to her?_**

 ** _While Zoe was thinking about these things, Dariux and Xalyssa took action._**

 ** _"Zoe, it's time." Dariux said to her._**

 ** _"Time for what?" Zoe asked._**

 ** _"Time for the experiment." Xalyssa said. "We can't tell you what the experiment is yet. You'll see."_**

 ** _They took her to another room. It appeared to be an operating room. There was a tiny mattress on what appeared to be a metal box. Lights and screens surrounded the mattress._**

 ** _"Zoe, could you please lie down on the mattress?" asked Dariux._**

 ** _Zoe obeyed. As soon as she was on the mattress, she saw Xalyssa with a syringe with a clear liquid. Xalyssa then injected it into Zoe._**

 ** _"What's this?"_**

 ** _"It makes the process less painful."_**

 ** _It was then Zoe remembered the other children in their clutches. The other Vanisher victims. Terrible things happened to them. It probably all started with this operation. These people were criminals and could not be trusted._**

 ** _"What's going to happen to me?"_**

 ** _"I don't know." Xalyssa said to her._**

 ** _"But something bad, right?" Zoe responded._**

 ** _Xalyssa repeated her previous statement. But Zoe's mind supplied her with plenty of ideas on exactly what that would be. Zoe had finally learned not to trust the Vanishers. But it was too late. For she then fell asleep on the mattress. The operation would go forth._**

 ** _When she woke up, Zoe was surprised to see she was still alive. Dariux and Xalyssa were looking at what appeared to be brain scans._**

 ** _"It's incredible! It actually worked this time!" Xalyssa exclaimed_**

 ** _"I'm just as shocked as you are! I don't know if it was chance, luck or if there was something special about the girl, but whatever it was, it worked on her!"_**

 ** _"What worked? What did you do to me?" Asked Zoe._**

 ** _Dariux explained. "Do you remember Viola Simmons?"_**

 ** _"Yes."_**

 ** _"Viola Simmons is dying. She wanted to... impart her knowledge on an impressionable mind. And that's what the operation was for."_**

 ** _"So I have all of her knowledge?"_**

 ** _"Yes. And so much more."_**

 ** _At first Zoe thought it was cool. She had all the knowledge of an advanced and prominent astrophysicist. But as time went on, Zoe realized that the operation gave her much more than knowledge._**

 ** _At first, she didn't notice the other changes, since the two were so alike. It was little things she noticed. For example, Dariux had asked if she wanted some lime flavored water. She accepted this offer, even though Zoe hated lime flavored water. Why did she accept Dariux's offer?_**

 ** _A month later, she noticed that Zoe had all of Viola Simmon's memories. She remembered everything Viola Simmons experienced, from inheriting a large fortune to meeting Zoe._**

 ** _But by far the most interesting thing that changed since the operation was her mind itself. As time went on, it seemed like something else was controlling it. The lime flavored water was just the beginning. The were minutes where Zoe herself didn't have control over what she said or did. The minutes become hours. Something, no, someone was invading her mind._**

 ** _And that someone was Viola Simmons._**

 ** _She had to get her mind and body back under her control. But how?_**

 _ **Zoe wouldn't find the answer to that question in this session with Hypatia. Again the fiery flames of memory caused Zoe to pass out again. What was causing these flames? Why did they get hotter and hotter as she uncovered more of her life?** _


	5. Chapter 5

_Zoe awoke again in a hospital bed. But unlike the other_ times _they'd been through this routine, Kepler and Copernicus weren't there. Instead, a haunting and_ familiar _face appeared by the bed._

 _It was the unforgettable face of Zoe's father._

 _Midnight black, short hair reaching towards his forehead hung over his face with a woeful look. Golden eyes looked at Zoe. He hadn't aged a day since she saw him last in Imi._

 _"_ Oh _Zoe. It's pitiful to see you like this."_

 _Zoe refused to believe what she was seeing._

 _"You... you... you can't be here!"_

 _"Oh, but I am." Her father responded. "Well, technically I'm not here, but still, you can see me."_

 _"You haven't aged a day since I saw you last! There's no way that's possible!"_

 _"I'm not really here. This is just a disguise. That's why I don't appear to have aged. I haven't in your mind, where I exist."_

 _"A disguise for whom?"_

 _"Oh, you already know who I am. You just haven't figured it out yet. Part of me feels sorry for you." the illusion of her father said._

 _"Really? I must have done something incredible." Zoe responded._

 _"Oh yes. You were the only one who figured out how to outsmart me."_

 _"Care to give some details?"_

 _Kepler then walked in the room. "_ Hi _Zoe? Anything new?"_

 _Zoe responded to Kepler quickly. "Well, he's here, which means something is up."_

 _"Who's he?"_

 _"Can't you see him?" Zoe pointed to where she saw her father. Surprisingly, when she pointed at him, the image of her father shattered like glass. An_ ear splitting _shatter filled only her ears as she saw the image of her father disintegrate into small pieces, which then faded out of existence._

 _"He was just an illusion!"_

 _"Who is he?" asked Kepler again._

 _"_ Oh _Kepler. I have no idea what's happening to me. Or what happened to me in the Vanishers lab. But they did something to my mind. I-I" Zoe struggled to find the right words. "I don't know what's real anymore. First the flashbacks with Hypatia and now this."_

 _"Please tell me what's going_ on. _" Kepler begged._

 _Zoe told him as best she could to explain what she saw. "It must've been an illusion, but it was a strange one! It had a story and everything. What is going on?"_

 _"Well, It's pretty obvious that your memories will be the key to finding out what this is."_

 _"What happened all those years ago? Did the Vanishers do something else to my mind? I don't know anything anymore. But I have to figure it out!"_

 _The conversation ended with this statement. But Zoe couldn't figure anything out until her meeting with Hypatia that day._

 _"Hello,_ Zoe. _" Hypatia said. "Please, join me. I know you have questions."_

 _"You have no idea."_

 _"Every time I remember something, my head gets hotter and hotter_ untill _I wake up in the hospital. Why is that?"_

 _"All will be answered soon, Zoe, all will be answered soon."_

 _"Umm... aren't we forgetting exploding tennis ball explosion graphics? And actually remembering things?" Zoe asked._

 _"Yes. About that." Hypatia threw the tennis ball in the air, then clapped. As usual, the tennis ball burst open and exploded, revealing a hidden image._

 _This image was of the Vanishers lab, except ruined. The glass windows were broken, and doors were opened by force._

 _And Zoe remembered again._

 ** _It had been a week since the_** **10 year old** ** _Zoe had lost all control of her body to Viola Simmons. It was like watching a neverending movie of someone else's life. Except it was HER life. And she was going to get it back, no matter what!_**

 ** _And the key to it all was in the joint memory system._**

 ** _Viola had access to all of the memories in the body. Both Viola's memories and Zoe's. Whenever Viola looked at Zoe's memories, she got a bit more control over herself. But it also caused Viola to get a fiery headache, which dissuaded her from looking back at Zoe's memories. If only Zoe could make Viola remember more about the body she'd stolen..._**

 ** _But more complications would soon arise. The scientists scanned her body with looks of concern. The Vanishers said something was going wrong, but they weren't telling Viola what. Zoe needed to put a plan into action and fast!_**

 ** _Zoe came up with a plan to get her body back from Viola. It was a drastic, desperate option. It would cost her everything she ever knew. But she had to win her freedom, no matter what!_**

 **First** ** _she needed time. Just a half hour where her body was under her control._**

 ** _Zoe had been experimenting with Viola's dreams for some time. One time, in one of Viola's dreams, she managed to insert herself into it and throw a frisbee out into the unreal landscape. She would do something like it, for Viola. But this time, a much more elaborate, scary dream._**

 ** _Zoe constructed a maze of bones for Viola to walk through in her sleep. It was full of horrors, each and every one a tribute to her time with the Vanishers. In one segment, Viola would be chased by soulless demons trying to make her disappear forever. In another segment, Viola would have to endure torture at the hands of two skeletons trying to remove Viola's brain. But the worst torture was a segment with a blood pool and little else. And Viola would have no control over her body. In this segment of the dream, Viola would watch helplessly as her body walked towards it, going deeper and deeper until the body drowned._**

 ** _Zoe's plan with this scary dream: To combine fear and Zoe's memories in a dream for Viola. This dream would hopefully, scare Viola so much she would lose control of the body she had stolen. Just for a half hour. Then, and only then Zoe could go where she was really headed._**

 ** _When Viola woke up the next day, she was so frightened that the body Zoe had been fighting to get back turned as white as a pearl._**

 ** _The first part of her plan was complete. The second part would now go into action. This part was the hardest thing she ever did in her life._**

 ** _But first, she heard the Vanishers talking. It would most certainly pertain to her, and there was a good chance they wouldn't tell Zoe about any of it. She hid and listened to what they were talking about._**

 ** _She heard_** **Xalyssa** ** _talking to_** **Dariux** ** _. "The mind is revolting! Violently! It's trying to_** **re-gain** ** _control! Why can't you see she needs to be stopped!"_**

 ** _"I very much agree she needs to_** **stopped** ** _!"_** **Dariux** ** _responded. "But what you're suggesting is monstrous! Killing a client., it's just terrible! Couldn't we just remove the part of the mind that's revolving?"_**

 ** _"But they have joint control of the_** **mind.** ** _"_** **Xalyssa** ** _yelled. "We were paid to get Viola Simmons a new body that she could use to re-live her life. Which we did! But the mind of the Zoe child is too strong. We MUST kill her,_** **Dariux** ** _."_**

 ** _"I refuse! What sort of monsters have we become?"_**

 ** _Zoe had to keep moving. She knew that somewhere around here was a memory-blocking device. The Vanishers kept it around here somewhere. Zoe didn't know why. But it didn't matter. What mattered was that they had it and she was going to use it to get Viola out of her head for good._**

 ** _She looked around the halls and rooms for five minutes until she found the small headphone-like device labeled "Memory Sorter."_**

 ** _This device could make someone forget something. You just needed to program it the right way, and you could wipe your whole memory. Then, you would press the tiny green button connected to the chords to run it. You would retain all of your knowledge and experience. But the memories associated so closely with them would be erased._**

 ** _Zoe placed the headphones in her ears. She quickly learned how to use the device, and set it up as perfectly as she could. She would use it to wipe the memory of the past five months with the Vanishers and Viola. Because if she couldn't remember Viola, Viola wouldn't have much power, now would she?_**

 ** _Zoe knew that, in the process, it would wipe her memories of her father, of Imi, and of her 10 years on this earth. But it was a small price to pay for control of herself. Those memories were painful. Zoe figured that the Vanishers would eventually figure out what she'd done. Then, they would either release her, knowing she was worthless and couldn't help either them or Viola Simmons, or they would kill her. But, at least this version of Zoe, was already dead. All she wanted was either a fresh start or to be gone from the planet._**

 ** _Before pressing the fateful green button, she found a red marker. She wrote on her arm the two message she needed to give herself: Your name is Zoe. Trust no one._**

 ** _With fear and sadness flowing through her brain, she pressed the green button, knowing full well what would happen. She wept as she did this. She did not want to kill this version of herself. But Zoe also knew it was the best thing to do._**

 ** _Like petals falling from a wilting flower, Zoe forgot one memory after another. First, her memories of the Vanishers, then her memories of school. In time, even the face of her grieving father was erased._**

 ** _The whole world went black for a few minutes. Then Zoe, not Zoe_** **Avnath** ** _, the girl kidnapped by the Vanishers, nor Viola, who had invaded the body, but instead, just Zoe. A blank slate of a girl._**

 ** _Zoe walked into her mysterious surroundings. What was this place? Why was she here? Who was she? What was going on?_**

 **Dariux** ** _walked into the room. He was holding a syringe of milky white liquid. His face looked regretful and filled with sorrow._** **Dariux** ** _didn't even look at her._**

 ** _"Hello, Viola."_**

 ** _"Hi." Wait. How did she know what to say to this man? Where did she learn this language?_**

 ** _"Hold out your arm, Viola."_**

 ** _For a minute, she held out her hand. But then she saw the green writing. "Your name is Zoe. Trust no one." This meant she wasn't to trust this man, was it not?_**

 ** _This Zoe was not a human, at least not yet. She was nothing but a feral_** **animal,** ** _and acted like one._**

 ** _She had to defend herself against this man, and all others like him. Which she did almost instantly._**

 ** _She punched_** **Daruix** ** _. Hard. Enough to temporarily disorient him while Zoe ran. The fight or flight instinct taking hold on her._**

 **Dariux** ** _chased after her. Obviously,_** **flight** ** _was not going to work. So she fought. Hard. She just kicked, punched, hit, anything that would hurt her opponents. Eventually, he fell down to the floor. Once her opponent was down, she ran._**

 ** _She kept running. And then she saw her more deadly opponent._** **Xalyssa** ** _._** **Xalyssa** ** _had a syringe in hand, and she was running towards Zoe. And this Zoe had to act quickly._**

 ** _Just out of her reach, there was a glass test tube with some sort of liquid. Suddenly, she started to get an idea. The first idea that this girl had. Using tools._**

 ** _She ran from_** **Xalyssa** ** _, but only enough to get the test tube. She grabbed the small test_** **tube,** ** _and looked at it with curiosity. What was bubbling inside?_**

 ** _But this was no time for curiosity. She had to fight_** **Xalyssa** ** _, who was getting closer and closer. She threw the test tube at_** **Xalyssa** ** _._** **Xalyssa** ** _tried to dodge it, but the glass shattered in her face. Surprisingly, it was not the glass that had injured her... it was the liquid. The liquid appeared to be dissolving at her face. The new Zoe was thrilled. This whole tool concept was really working!_**

 ** _With_** **Xalyssa** ** _with severe injuries, Zoe got two more test tubes, both with liquids._** **Dariux** ** _was on his feet now, but wouldn't be for long. Zoe threw one of the test tubes at_** **Dariux** ** _, and he fell. He held up a hand, to signal he had given up. But animals had no concept of mercy, and the rule was kill or be killed. And Zoe had no intention of dying today._**

 ** _She threw the other test tube at his eyes._** **Dariux** ** _screamed in pain. This Zoe liked the scream, for it was the signal of her victory. Now for her kill. She wasn't going to use a tool this time. She was going to use her hands. And she soon started squeezing at_** **Dariux's** ** _throat._** **Dariux** ** _struggled at first, then stopped moving altogether._**

 ** _The girl didn't know what she was doing. This Zoe was really just an animal at this stage, fighting for her life. But soon, humanity started to return to her. She looked at the destruction she had caused. And she started to feel something else: regret & shame._**

 ** _"Oh dear, what have I done?"_**

 ** _Zoe pondered this for a while. She looked good and hard at what she had done just to stay alive. She brutally murdered one man, and there was another person injured. The lab was in ruins. And it was all at Zoe's door._**

 ** _Zoe could think about that later. For now, she had to move on. She had to get as far away from this place as possible. But this was where the burning sensation took over the mind of the older Zoe. As the mental flames took over her head, she took one more look at the scene she had created. She bowed her head in shame of the destruction her younger_** **self had** _ **caused.**_


	6. Chapter 6

_Zoe yet again found herself in the hospital. It was a new daily routine after dream sessions with Hypatia. But she was changed._

 _She came here and agreed to this wretched "therapy" because she wanted to know. She wanted to know what she had done, who she was, why she had forgotten everything. She now knew._

 _She saw that she was a coldblooded killer who had been held captive in a laboratory for five months. That in those five months she was a pawn in someone else's game. And that it made her go insane. She wept at what she had done._

 _Kepler then walked in the room. "Hello, Zoe."_

 _"Hi." She said weakly._

 _"Bad memories?" He asked._

 _"Do me a favor and drop it. You're just an illusion. I'm going crazy, aren't I?"_

 _"How did you figure it out?" the illusion of Kepler asked._

 _"I'm crying. Kepler, the real one would have cared. You are an illusion, a figment of my insanity. What is causing you?"_

 _"Actually, that's what I'm here to tell you today. But first, I'd like to thank you."_

 _"For what?" An illusion, thanking her? She was REALLY going crazy now!_

 _"For foiling me, of course. Now I know exactly what I did wrong, and I can claim what is rightfully mine."_

 _"Rightfully yours? You are an ILLUSION! You are not really here! Nothing is rightfully YOURS! Am I making sense to you, or are my words being clouded out by my own insanity!"_

 _"Wrong on every count." the fake Kepler responded. "First off, even though this form is an illusion, I am very much alive and real. Second off, there is one thing that is rightfully mine. This very body, one I should have gotten SIX YEARS ago! Do you know how long I've been waiting for an opportunity like this one?"_

 _"I demand you tell me who you are." Zoe said._

 _"Does the name Viola Simmons mean anything to you?" the fake Kepler replied. "Or, and to quote a good friend I know: or are my words being clouded out by my own insanity?"_

 _"We aren't friends, Viola! The last time I talked to you, you were trying to kick me out of my own body just to cheat death!"_

 _The illusion of Kepler shapeshifted into Viola. "Oh, and get this: that's still the plan!"_

 _"Still the plan? You failed last time with your little plan! Why are you so convinced this will work for you?!" Zoe shouted._

 _"Actually, I know this will work because you showed me exactly how to execute my new plan successfully at the age of 10. You weakened my power, making me so weak I wasn't able to do anything while you erased your memory. I just made a few revisions to your original plan to make the weakness last longer than just a half hour. I don't want to have to erase my memory, I've seen the problems in caused you."_

 _"You just told me your plan, Viola. Why are you telling me all of this?" Zoe paused, then teasingly added "Is my insanity rubbing off on you, Viola?"_

 _"I didn't tell you everything about my plan, Zoe." Viola said to Zoe. "For instance, I didn't tell you how I intended to weaken your psychic control. That would be the thing to give it all away." Viola paused before saying "You know, out of all the personalities I've seen in you, I like this one best. You're smart, but you also have something... else... something neither Zoe Avnath nor Zoe Heriot had."_

 _"Wait. Zoe Avnath is the 10-year old me who erased her memory to protect herself from you. Who is Zoe Heriot?" She paused before asking "You have all of my memories! Including the ones I haven't recovered yet! Oh, please tell me, what happened in the remaining 6 years I am still missing?"_

 _"Why would I do that? We are enemies, Zoe! Do you what it has been like to watch your life, to just watch the future be changed for me and not by me? It almost drove me insane for 6 years! But now that you have erased your memory, again, I can do it. I can get back what is rightfully mine after all these years! You're going to pay for what you did to me, Zoe! And it's going to start right now!"_

 _Zoe wanted to say something, but before she could, she blinked. And then, Viola Simmons was gone from her point of vision. But not really._

 _"Viola? Viola? Where did you go?" She looked around, and then realized something. Viola was talking to Zoe through an illusion. Zoe was just talking to someone who wasn't really there! If nothing else proved how broken her shattered mind had, this did. She started to laugh at the cruelty of it all, but something stopped her dead in her tracks. Or rather, someone from her past stopped her dead in her tracks._

 _It was her father again. Or the illusion of him, anyway. She turned away from him, looking for a way to leave the room she was in, but then turned around and saw TWO versions of her father, standing on opposite ends of the room._

 _Eventually, one of them spoke. "You can't run away from your own brain, Zoe." There was a moment of silence, as Zoe tried to figure out what to do. Then, Zoe found the door and ran out of it as fast as she could, leaving the illusions behind her. But just as she left them, other illusions re-appeared, this time of Xalyssa and Dariux._

 _"Your past and memories will chase you wherever you go, Zoe." Dariux said._

 _Zoe shouted at the illusions. "Viola, what kind of sadistic game is this?!" Zoe kept running and running "Just leave me alone!"_

 _"You can never leave me behind, Zoe, no matter how hard you try to get rid of me." This time, the illusion of Xalyssa spoke. "I am within your mind, Zoe. I know everything you know, and more! You can't stop me from getting what I want, and deep down you know that!" This was just Viola using illusions to toy with her fractured sanity. And Zoe knew it was working._

 _After a cycle of spotting new illusions and running away from them, something small but terrifying happened: Zoe had stopped running. She tried to make herself move, but for a few seconds, she couldn't! After six seconds she tried again, and this time she was able to move. But Zoe had seen the warning sign: Viola had re-gained control of the body that she was fighting so hard for. Even if it was only for a few seconds, that was a horrific fact._


End file.
